A few weeks ago Mike and I re-signed to teach the 2012- 2013 school year at our current schools. We like our schools, we like our apartment, we love our neighborhood. We were content.

Last Tuesday I saw a post the JETI was hiring Korean English teacher trainers. (boy that’s a lot of modifiers.) I submitted my resume and cover letter on a whim and received a phone call an hour later. I went out for an interview the next day. JETI is in Damyang, a tourist spot famous for its bamboo forest. The drive out there was romantic. Snow covered mountains, pine trees, farms, a beautiful lake. Awesome. Like Misery without the yuckiness.

I digress. So, it turns out that this is my dream job. I like my school. I love my school. But, overall, the English teachers here are stuck on the Grammar Translation method and the Audio -Lingual method. They have been told to use Communicative Language Teaching, but have been trained in the methods. So you end up with the G-T/ A-L cycle repeating endlessly. The job would be a step in ending that cycle, I would be training Korean teachers to teach English to Korean elementary students in 6 month intensive seminars. The teachers would then go abroad and take their TEOFL certificate. I would be a cog in the system that would shift the teaching paridigm. Cool.

They called and offered me the job last Thursday. I was so excited. I chattered endlessly at the director. (you know, the more excited I am the more I chatter.) There was a hang-up. I am under contract until April 23rd and the new position starts on February 1st.

For the past week we have been trying to convince my principal to let me go. She won’t. It’s just been made official. I am here. Here I am.

On the good side, I love my school. My principal has a good attitude, my school has a good tone and I like the teachers. We love our neighborhood. We are between two mountains, two blocks from the ocean, surrounded by fabulous restaurants, and we like our neighbors. We like our apartment. We have a romantic view of the sunset, we don’t look straight on at another 15 story building, as often happens in Korea, and it has a cute porch. The “other” job would have had us separated for 3 months, living in a city of 5 million people, Mike would have had to find a new job, and I would have a 45 minute commute each way.

I am thankful to have the best sweetie in the world. He tolerates all of my whimseys. When they offered me the job I knew he’d be up for the adventure. It doesn’t get much better than Mike. We are sad to lose this opportunity. I dreamed about it all week. Last night he caught me sleep walking.

Thankfully the process is over. We are starting our winter vacation. We leave for a few days in Seoul, then it is off for a week in Japan. This time we are exploring the Osaka- Kyoto region. I can’t wait to tell you all about it when we get back.

Or maybe I can show you picture as we eat food-on-a- stick and walk to the dairy barn…

Thanks, it would have been a dream job. I would get to work on a team of ELTs again with students that chose to be there. It would have
increased my salary and vacation allotment. You can’t beat that.
On the bright side, my pay is good, I have a fair ammount of vacation, we are off to Japan for the second time this year, and I love my students. They are wonderful. Complaining here is absurd. But boy, it would have been nice.
Oh, and that team is on a field trip to Jeju Island. Jeju, one of the new 7 wonders.
Wait, I went there with Liz and Mike in September, never mind…..

Wow! Up and down. The men of family R. are pretty wonderful. Keepers. You wouldn’t guess they were that flexible at first glance – but they are. I think your friend is right – this may come around again. It sounds very satisfying.

Our selfish thought…when in August? I start teaching in mid-August – but P. is a little later…push to shove we will send him home for a not-to-be-missed visit.

Thanks for the kind words. I’m doing okay here – writing and adventuring and staying happy, and I could have done that in Gwangju as well as here. We’re not sure when in August yet, it’s up to our schools when the vacation time is. Last year it was mid-August, so tell Peter to keep his bags packed and we’ll see him, hopefully, then.